


bereft

by stariter



Category: 3Below, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, no betas we die like men, steve says fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-08 04:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19863307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stariter/pseuds/stariter
Summary: “It’s like there’s a hole in my chest. Like I’m bleeding out. It’s been getting bigger all day, but I know that it is not because I’m thinking about Akiridion-5 or Aja.” Krel stopped, tried to think harder about what he was feeling. His description felt inaccurate somehow. “Actually,” He amended his words. “I don’t just feel like I am missing something. I’m not sad, I think… I think I may even be angry.”“It hurts, and it’s frustrating, and I don’t know how to fix it or make these stupid feelings go away. It’s like I have all these things I want to say but I don’t know what they are.”-this is a lil fic about everyone dealing with aja and eli leaving at the end of 3below. but it also deals with them missing jim and claire so, basically, this is a fic about missing things hence the name. the main pairing is kreli but i put in like every ship anyways





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is basically a prologue bc i wanted to mention some things that are gonna come up later. originally it was part of the next chapter but it didn't really flow and honestly it doesn't really flow here but this is my second fic ever so cut me some slack. i KNOW it's a kreli fic but he's going to show up in the next chapter i promise. and yes he's living with the palchuks bc fuck the blanks i want him to be adopted by coach lawrence thank you

“And then Toby almost splatted it with his hammer!” Steve mimed smashing something to pieces with a giant weapon.

“No!” Aja exclaimed, hands rising to her face in mock horror.

“Yes! But— ” He paused dramatically to raise an arm, flexing his muscles and flashing her a wink on the other side of the screen. “Your brave, amazing boyfriend here just picked the little guy up and moved him into the bushes. And I think Mary fainted at some point? I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention. Anyways, they’re all fine now. Really crazy story though, right?”

Aja rolled her eyes and giggled. “So crazy. But I find it hard to believe that the girls would be so scared of a small rodent.” She remarked. “The mascot for Arcadia Oaks High is a mole, and that is not so different from a rat. Doesn’t Darci dress up as one to dance on the sidelines at your sports games?”

“Aja, come on. It was a full on, furry, wet rat in the pool. The pool! That’s so gross.” Steve shuddered, half for comedic effect and half because it really had been a traumatic experience. He was proud of himself for facing it so bravely. Truth be told, there was quite a bit more screaming on his end than he had recounted to his girlfriend. “Claire’s mom seriously needs to do something about getting the health and safety for the community centre checked out. I’m pretty sure it was one of her campaign promises.” He made a face before continuing more wistfully. “The neighbourhood pool just can’t compare to the one Mother made for you guys.”

Aja tilted her head, a smile curving up her lips. “Is this your way of saying you miss my pool more than me?” Steve laughed, feeling something warm bloom in his chest. “No, of course not. I miss you everyday.” He tried to keep his words light, truthful, but it came off a little sad anyways. Aja gave him a knowing look, and they both fell into silence for a few moments. Long distance was hard. Like, they’d both known it was going to be hard, but, God, was it really fucking hard sometimes. Even with all the super complicated, really cool Akiridion tech keeping them in touch… it still sucked, knowing in the back of his mind that this was going to be a permanent thing. Aja couldn’t leave her people, and Steve couldn’t leave his family, so this was just the way it had to be.

Speaking of long distance…

“So, um, is Eli around?” Steve asked hopefully. It had been way too long since he had seen him. The Akiridions (and company) had left Earth near the end of July. For context, it was now September 3rd, the last day before school began. He had managed to call Aja almost every single night, and they showered each other in apologies and texts full of heart eyes emojis whenever they had to skip a day. Eli, on the other hand, hadn’t picked up a single one of Steve’s calls. Moreover, he always flaked on the weekly Saturday wormhole visit; Steve, Toby, and Krel would go to visit Aja on Akiridion-5, or vice versa. Steve received the occasional text from him, but they were few and far between.

In summary— excuse him if he’s starting to get a bit frustrated.

Aja winced as soon as the question left his lips. “No, I’m sorry.” She started to apologize. Steve’s grip on his phone tightened just a bit, but his face betrayed no emotion. “He’s just busy with Earth ambassador things. I think he’s in another meeting with the Diplomatic Council of Defense and that could take until the end of the night.”

 _Busier than the freaking queen of the planet he’s on?_ Steve thought to himself bitterly.

“Is there anything you want me to say to him?” Oh, Steve could think of a few choice words.

“Just, you know, the usual.” Steve offered up a weak grin. “That I’m missing the Cheese Slice, and all that. Hope we can talk soon. School’s starting and I’m sure he’ll want to hear about how much Miss Janeth is missing him.”

Aja gave him 2 thumbs-up, a peace sign, and a rock-on gesture in affirmation. He’d taught her the last one a few weeks ago and she’d already begun to pepper it into their conversations, often in the wrong context. It was cute.

“If I can ask you another, possibly equally upsetting question?” Aja said, and he waved a hand for her to proceed. “Have you talked to Jim and Claire about setting up a wormhole at their Trollmarket?”

Steve raised a hand to the back of his neck, trying not to grimace. There was no easy way to say this. “Honestly, babe, I don’t think it’s gonna work.” He admitted. “The thing is they still don’t have a new Trollmarket established yet. They’re constantly on the move and Krel says the wormhole isn’t programmable to beam to so many different locations. At least, not yet. No one wants to be the one to tell Toby that, so, uh… we’re just sitting on our hands and waiting for something to change while staying fake positive for him.” He spreads his hands wide in a ‘what can you do?’ motion.

“Oh.” The conversation died for the second time. _Fuck._ Aja looked sad— too sad for Steve to be able to cheer her up. Knowing there was no coming back from a downer like the one he just dropped, Steve decided to offer what few encouraging words he had, and more importantly, some space.

“Geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for the call to go this way.” He apologized. “But I promise it’ll be okay. Krel will figure something out, he’s just a genius like that.”

“Anyways, it’s getting late, and we've been talking for like, 3 hours now. Coach is probably 3 seconds away from breaking down my door and screaming at me so loud he breaks the sound barrier.” He joked. He was pleased with the small smile he managed to elicit from Aja, and the subsequent giggle. Nevermind the fact that she was laughing at his misunderstanding of aerodynamics.

“Talk to you tomorrow, my warrior oaf.” She smiled warmly.

“Can’t wait, my ninja butt-kicking angel.” Steve returned the smile and waved goodbye, ending the phone call.

On cue, Coach Lawrence pounded his signature pattern of 3 loud knocks on his bedroom door. “STEVE! IT’S 11 PM AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T TAKEN THE GARBAGE OUT!” He barked. Well, if he hadn't woken everyone up with his phone call, then that for sure would. Krel was definitely going to complain to him next morning about cutting into his sleep, and this time Steve would not hesitate to throw Coach under the bus in response. 

“I’M COMING, ALRIGHT!” Steve yelled back, throwing his phone to the side and scrambling to get up. Take out the garbage, get ready for bed, and then there was just one more sleep until he had to go back to school... this time, without his girlfriend or his best friend in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally went from having chapter 1 + this chapter + the next chapter as one thing, but i'm just splitting it up more and more lol. anyways! have a flashback with eli! the shippy stuff is coming

Things were going about as well for Steve as they could have on the first day of school. So, not saying much.

As expected, Krel gave him shit for keeping him up. However, Steve reminded him that 1) he’d been calling Aja and Krel had done the same thing at odd hours tons of times, 2) technically it was Coach that had woken him up, and 3) it had actually been Krel’s week to take out the trash. They had decided to call it even.

Homeroom had been weird. He had become somewhat accustomed to having Mr. Strickler as his history teacher and was even looking forward to having him again – but no such luck.

Well, maybe it was a bit strong to say “accustomed” when the man’s attendance had been so spotty over the past year. There had been his first absence, his return as principal, his absence _again_ , the few days he was back after the bad coffee incident, and now… He was on paternity leave. Indefinitely. There had been rumours that he would be taking up his teaching position permanently in September, and Steve had foolishly gotten his hopes up just to walk in and see Senor Uhl instead.

They went over the usual first day stuff, like the course outline and the zero-tolerance cheating policy, at which point Uhl slid his eyes over to Steve and he did his best not to be offended.

As Uhl continued, Steve tried to stay focused, he really did. He had promised himself that he was actually going to make an academic effort this year. This year grades actually counted for something. Plus, he couldn’t go to Eli for tutoring help anymore, and he certainly wasn’t about to ask Krel.

Regardless, the boy found himself in his usual position, hand propping up his face as he gazed outside at the soccer fields. He didn’t have any of his friends in this class. Claire liked learning about history, and Jim liked Strickler (though he would probably never admit it to his face), so they had all discussed taking it together in 11th grade. Of course, that hadn’t come to fruition.

Now he was sitting here stupidly, missing him the two of them, and somehow missing Strickler, too. He had barely even known him outside of class! Yeah, he had always appreciated that Strickler treated him like a temporarily embarrassed genius and not a moron when he panicked after being called on… and he had liked that the man usually had a sense of humour when Steve interrupted class to crack jokes… But it was still stupid to miss him.

All of this was stupid.

Steve closed his eyes and wished fervently that it would be lunch break already. 

\--

In honours biology class, Krel was encountering the same sort of stupid, yearning emotions. Specifically, about a 5’3” kid with messy dark brown hair and large-rimmed glasses.

“Alright, everyone. You can expect that we will have at least one lab a week, for which you will need to record the purpose, hypothesis, and results in class.” Their new teacher- Mr. Jamali, Krel reminded himself -completed a circuit around the classroom, handing every student a spiral-bound notebook.

“I’ll assign questions for analysis every Friday, and you have until Monday to submit them on Dropbox. It’s important to ensure that you follow the experimental procedures as closely as possible; this will get you the best results and make it easer to answer my questions.” Mr. Jamali paused, his eyes surveying the class. “So, pick a lab partner carefully. You won’t get to change them until mid-semester.”

He brought his wrist up to inspect a non-existent watch. “You have 5 minutes.”

Immediately, the class scattered.

Krel instinctively turned to his right. “Eli, let’s be partners for this laboratory!” He declared. “You are the only one in this class who can even come close to my intelligence, and I have no intention of getting less than an A-plus in this class. I have to uphold my reputation among Arcadia Oaks’ brightest.”

Mary Wang blinked back at him.

“...Right.” She looked like she wanted to shoot a scathing remark, but was choosing to bite her tongue. No doubt a reaction to seeing the way Krel deflated after realizing his mistake.

“Sure, Karl, let’s be partners.” She smiled and patted his shoulder, which somehow made him feel even worse. He didn’t have the heart to correct her about his name.

Krel returned the smile, albeit weakly, and turned back to face the front of the classroom. He glanced over to his phone at the side of his desk. Its screen remained depressingly blank. Biting his lip, he looked up as Mr. Jamali turned around to write something on the board. He could probably risk it.

He grabbed his phone and opened his conversation history with Eli.

_To: Jack of Peppers_

_The biology teacher is as boring as you predicted. But we have lots of dissections planned for the school year. Don’t worry – if we were lab partners, I would take care of them._

Aye, that was too much. He deleted the last line and replaced it.

_I don’t think my partner Mary will want to do any of them herself._

He pressed send before he could regret it. What was one more unread, unanswered text message? He was certain that Eli would catch a break from his Earth ambassador duties soon enough, and then they could talk. After all, he was the one to suggest that they take this class together. He would definitely want to hear about it.

_“Ugh, I am so tired of this “course selection” process. It is soporific. Why don’t you have to do it?”_

_Eli rolled over on his bed to face him. “Because I already did it back in February. You’re lucky they’re even letting you and Aja choose your own classes so late. I thought for sure Uhl would just auto-enroll you in, like, a million Spanish and English classes and be done with it.” These were, of course, the two courses that Uhl taught. He had developed something of a soft spot for the Tarron siblings, though he vehemently denied it to the other staff members. They were his favourite students to have in class._

_“Why don’t you just stock up on math and business tech classes? You’re good at that stuff. They’d be really impressive on a university application, too.”_

_Krel scoffed. “Please. There is no way I am staying on this mudball long enough to attend one of your universities.”_

_The other boy quieted a little bit. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He said, his voice strange._

_“Besides, I have already signed up for 2 math classes. Also, the regional school officials pre-enrolled me in applied English.” He sniffed. “Apparently that is common practice in Arcadia for any student new to the country.”_

_Eli frowned at that. “That’s so not fair. Is that your only applied class?”_

_Krel nodded, not really understanding why Eli was upset._

_"You should talk to Uhl about that. I’m sure he can get you bumped up to academic English.” He assured him, coming over to lie on the carpet too. Eli pointed to a specific class on the course list._

_“_ _For your last class, what if you took biology?”_

_“_ _I am already familiar with the human body. Mother has shown me an adequate number of diagrams.”_

_For some reason, that made Eli blush. “No! Bio isn’t just about human anatomy. It also deals with biodiversity, evolution, plant anatomy… all the sort of things on Earth that you don’t know about. I think it would be really interesting for you. Since you don’t already know the course content like you do with math, it’ll actually be a challenge.”_

_Krel considered this, tilting his head._

_“And also,” Eli said hesitantly. “I’m taking the same class. We could be lab partners.”_

_“Okay.” He agreed, maybe a little too quickly._

_“Great!” Eli brightened, grabbing the pencil from his friend’s hand to write down the course code. He surveyed the information under the course name and winced slightly. “Ok, I know I just said it wasn’t going to be boring, but Mr. Jamali is teaching the class in fall. That guy just drones on and on.”_

“Don’t worry, Krel.” He looked up, expecting to see dark brown hair and glasses.

“You’re likely worried that the work won’t be stimulating enough. The other teachers had high praise for you; I understand that you tend to go above and beyond the course curriculum.” Mr. Jamali smiled down at him, one hand going to land on his shoulder. Seriously, what was up with all these sympathy pats? 

“But don’t worry! If you feel like you’re dragging your feet, you can always come to me for some extra credit work. Or you can join the group of students who plan on entering the county science fair. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to flex your brain.”

“Right. Thank you, Mr. Jamali.” Krel straightened in his seat and tried to look earnest. Satisfied, the teacher nodded at him and wandered to a different part of the classroom.

“Hey, Karl.” Mary waved her hand to get his attention. “Can we get this lab stuff figured out now? Everyone else is taking the good safety goggles.” She jerks her thumb to point at the lab benches, where the other students were clambering to get the least damaged equipment for the experiment.

“Yes, let’s do that. I just want to get this class over with.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you leave a comment i'll love you forever


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> blink and you'll miss it but i tried to allude to trans eli and autistic krel

“Oh man, I’m so pumped for this class.” Steve said giddily, prodding Toby with his elbow as they walked into the classroom. Freshman Steve would have never had the balls to take drama. However, _junior_ Steve had cool friends who encouraged him to act on his passions. And honestly, he really, really loved theatre.

“Awesome sauce.” Toby breathed, looking around the drama room in awe. The room was entirely black; the walls, the fabric draped to form mock curtains at the back of the room, and the carpet underneath their feet. There were about 2 dozen chairs arranged in a neat circle in the room’s centre. He was a little apprehensive to know what kind of torture that set-up would be used for, but they had been through enough awkward icebreakers in their high school careers. He was confident they could handle whatever Miss Janeth threw at them.

To the left side, there were a few racks of costumes, ranging from medieval suits of armour to tuxedos and ballroom dresses to fluffy animal onesies. Decorative masks adorned the wall, and a bin overflowing with costume props occupied the room’s corner. Steve supposed this was confirmation that the majority of the school’s budget went towards its art programs, and not their sports teams as the student body had theorized.

There were still a few minutes before class began. As the other students began to sit down in the circle, Steve moved towards one of the costume racks.

He picked up a crude imitation of a ray gun. Thanks to Morando’s little stint in July, everyone in Arcadia now knew what a _real_ blaster looked like. Maybe he could talk to Miss Janeth about updating their props for the space set. Besides Krel, he had the most knowledge of what a serrator looked like up close.

Steve resisted the urge to take a photo for Aja and put the toy gun down. He couldn’t get into the habit of picking up his phone every time he missed her. If that were to happen, well— he would never put his phone down, would he?

He gazed over at the rest of the costume rack. Eli would have loved this stuff, too.

Eli never managed to get prominent roles in the school’s plays, but Steve believed he was much more suited to backstage management. He was perfect for the costume design department given his obsession with cosplay. He had even managed to coerce Steve into agreeing to Agent Skell and Muldoon costumes for this Halloween, which was an impressive feat on its own. They had planned to make the outfits themselves. Obviously, Steve had volunteered to be Skell so that Eli wouldn’t have to worry about being misgendered. 

On the right side of the room there was a line of framed posters for each of the plays the school had put on. Underneath each poster was a list and photos of all the crew members. Toby made a beeline for the end of the frames, hoping that Miss Janeth had put up a preview of what this year’s play would be.

He had joined drama class with Steve with the intent of improving his directing and writing skills. There was a chance that if he already knew the material well enough, he could pitch some new scene ideas to Miss Janeth and possibly get a co-director credit. Sure, it was a very slim chance, but he was still determined to impress her and the rest of his class with his artistic vision.

Toby sighed as he reached the empty frame at the end of the line. Guess it was too optimistic to think that Miss Janeth had picked out a play already. He turned away slightly, and the Romeo & Juliet poster to the left caught his eye.

He inhaled sharply. Yep, there were Jim and Claire, standing front and center in the cast photo underneath the poster.

They looked so happy.

They had _been_ so happy.

That play, though trivial in the grand scheme of things, had been enough to bring their whole gang together. He was thankful for that. The irony unfortunately lay in the fact that Jim’s story had also followed the steps of Shakespearean tragedy. A tragic hero with a fatal flaw – thinking that the weight of the world was on him – who would do… no, _did_ , whatever he believed was necessary to protect his friends.

Toby’s hand curled around an invisible weapon. Ah, right. He couldn’t just pull War Hammer out whenever he felt like it, no matter how mad he got when he thought about certain silver-haired wizards and their manipulative actions. Besides… wasn’t it kind of early in the day to be reflecting on this again? Surely he could make it through more than, like, 2 hours of school without missing them. He had done so successfully for most of the summer.

His phone burned in his back pocket.

Steve chose that moment to saunter over to join the other boy by the play posters. Toby had already pulled his phone out, frantically glancing from the screen to the Romeo & Juliet poster in front of him. He looked pained.

 _Apparently, we have the same problem when it comes to putting the phone down_ , Steve thought. He could imagine it was for similar reasons. He smiled at him in what he hoped what as an encouraging way, and Toby tried to smile back, but faltered.

“I- I’m sorry, dude, I just need to make a quick call. It’s an emergency.”

Steve let him.

\--

At lunch, Steve and Toby regrouped with Krel, Darci, and Mary at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Steve plunked himself down in a chair and took out his paper bag lunch. Grimacing at its contents, he selected the protein smoothie he had made that morning and ignored the tuna sandwich packed by Coach. Krel made the same face as he pulled out an identical tuna sandwich.

Over the past 2 years at Arcadia Oaks High, they had all wisely learned that the convenience of cafeteria food was not worth the gastrointestinal mess it caused later. Ordinarily, they might have driven down to the McDonalds a few blocks away, but Steve couldn’t fit many people on his Vespa. Besides that, the only member of their gang who was allowed to use the family car was – you guessed it – on another planet. 

The others pulled out their lunches as well, Toby looking down sadly at his lunch bag.

Steve scoffed at him. “Come on, man, your nana is like the only one of our parents that actually knows how to cook.” He gestured to the opposite side of the table, where Mary was desperately bargaining with Darcy for a handful of goldfish crackers in return for some very sad looking baby carrots. “Don’t even think about complaining.”

“Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “But it’s no egg white manchego omelette.”

For reference, that was Jim’s most famous breakfast dish. Steve pursed his lips, not knowing how to respond. He didn’t exactly excel at comforting others. Luckily for him, Darci jumped in to kick off the conversation before they could fall into an awkward silence.

“So, guys!” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “Have you heard the hot goss about Miss Janeth and Senor Uhl? It’s unreal.” She paused for dramatic effect. When no one took a guess at what the supposedly mind-blowing news could be, the girl continued excitedly. “Apparently, they’re dating!”

“Whoa.” Surprise flashed across Toby’s face, though only briefly. “I guess that tracks. Miss Janeth did seem happier than normal in drama class.”

“Ooh, ooh! I heard they were getting married.” Mary piped up.

Krel scrunched his nose in disgust and took a bite of his sandwich. “Fligshaag.” Steve wasn’t sure if that was in response to the taste or to the idea of their teachers being in a relationship, but either way he couldn’t agree more. 

“No way, that’s definitely just a rumour. They’re way too emotionally stunted to be at that level yet.”

“If they even _are_ dating, that is.” 

“I don’t know, Miss Janeth seems like the type to profess her love in the rain and follow up with a surprise proposal just for the drama of it all.”

“Do you think they’ve fucked?” Steve said thoughtfully.

That got him dirty looks from the rest of the group.

“God, can you stop being a horny boy for more than two seconds? We’re trying to have a nice, family-friendly lunch here.” Mary hissed at him, and Krel nodded vigorously in agreement.

“You officially just ruined this for me. Here I was picturing them going on cute dates, Uhl introducing her to Suzanna, and _maybe_ an engagement announcement by the time graduation rolls around.”

“Ugh, can we change the subject? I really do not want to think about them doing _…_ that.”

They quickly switched topics, and the conversation continued in a lively manner. Despite this, the general mood seemed to have an underlying somberness. They were all aware that things didn’t feel quite complete with half of their friend group missing.

“We should all go out tonight.” Darci suggested, not-so-subtly shooting a glance at Krel. He had remained the quietest throughout the whole lunch break.

She turned and lifted her eyebrows at Toby.

“Oh, yea, totally.” He replied, quickly catching her drift. “I think Astro Five is having an early screening at the Landmark Cinemas across town. It’s a little further than our normal joint, but it’ll be fun. We haven’t seen a movie together in like a million years.”

“Me and Krel are in.” Steve interjected before his housemate could object. “Mondays are date night for Coach and Mom, and neither of us want to be home for that.”

Krel sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

\--

Third period passed fairly quickly and before Krel knew it he was walking into the school’s gymnasium. It was just his luck that the honours Calculus class had filled up, and now he was stuck taking physical education again. At the very least, he would get to see Toby and Steve again. This was the only class that they had managed to get together, namely because academic stream had no bearing on who could enroll.

“Hey, have you seen Steve? Pretty sure he should be finished in Advanced Functions by now.” Toby asked as he exited the boy’s changeroom. He came to stand besides Krel and snapped sweat headband in place.

Krel tried not to snort upon seeing it. He and Steve had tried many, many times to tell him that it was not “a look”, as the humans would say. However, all it took was one “Aw, Toby Pie! That headband is so cute on you!” from Darci and now the boy refused to part with it. He was confident that one day they’d be able to steal it away and give it a proper Viking’s funeral. (He had just learned what Vikings were over lunch break, as the first unit in Steve’s ancient history class was Nordic history).

He cleared his throat, trying to suppress a giggle. “No, I have not.” He looked around, scanning the rest of the students and instead landing on Coach Lawrence wheeling out the bin of red rubber dodgeballs.

He groaned loudly. “Sekklos and Gaylen, what I wouldn’t do to trade this class for Advanced Functions. Steve would be wise to skip this hell and simply enjoy learning about logarithmic functions.”

Toby shook his head. “Nah, he loves this class. Sure, there’s the ever-present danger of being embarrassed by a parental figure,” His eyes flicked over to where Coach was chastising another student for wearing the wrong type of running shoes. “But he wouldn’t skip it for the world.”

Bold words, as they managed to cycle through several laps and 10 minutes of stretching before Steve finally entered the gym. Coach gave him a disapproving look from the front of the gym, which went largely ignored _._

The teacher heaved a heavy sigh and placed his hands on his hips. “Okay, you know the drill. We’ll play 3 warm-up rounds of dodgeball and then start setting up the volleyball nets.”

“Split yourselves down this line.” He separated the sea of students with his hands. “No, Palchuk, you’re on this side. You too, Tarron, Domzalski.” He nodded at the boys. Krel and Toby exchanged looks of mutual glee. Finally, a chance to not be on the receiving end of Steve’s rib-breaking throws. Maybe now they could actually score a point or two for their team.

Steve did not seem as thrilled. As soon as Coach blew the whistle, signalling the start of the game, he walked forward and let himself be hit by a dodgeball.

For half a millisecond, the rest of the students paused in shock – Steve Palchuk was _never_ the first to get out. In fact, he was always the last to get out, unless facing off against Jim. He was a ruthless player and certainly not one to give up at the start. However, the mayhem started up as quickly as it had stopped, with balls being hurled left and right and kids screeching above the chaos.

Krel watched in disbelief as Steve went to sit on the gym bench. Unfortunately, that provided the perfect opportunity for Logan Walker to nail him in the stomach with a dodgeball. He keeled over on the spot, the wind knocked out of him.

“Oh my gosh! Dude, are you okay?”

“Fine, I’m fine,” He wheezed, slowly getting to his feet and waving away Toby’s hands. “You just focus on impressing Coach Lawrence for the both of us. I’ll go check on Steve.” He made his way over to the bench and sat down a short distance away from the other boy.

“Are you okay?” He tried using a gentle, caring tone like he had seen others do sometimes. He was unsure how effective it would be coming from him. “You can talk to me if it helps.”

He assumed that Steve would simply brush him off or offer a one sentence reply about his math class being a bust. What he did _not_ expect to get was a waterfall of emotions.

“I- I don’t know. I thought I was over this, I guess. Um. Missing them, I mean. I call Aja every day, and I get to wormhole over to see her every Saturday. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself this whole time, which is _stupid_ , because Toby is like, right there. I can’t exactly talk to him about this stuff without looking like a massive asshole. Who am I to complain that I don’t get to see my girlfriend enough when I can literally cross galaxies to see her, and he can’t even see his best friends a few states away? He already had to deal with Jim and Claire and Blinky and all the trolls leaving, and he never complains about it. I see him, sometimes, looking at his phone or staring off into space and I _know_ he’s thinking about it, but I never know what to say. I’m awful at this empathizing shit. I’m just a big, stupid jerk.” Steve put his head into his hands.

 _Oh, kleb._ He was definitely on the verge of a breakdown.

Krel scooted a little closer. Hesitantly, he put one hand on the blonde’s shoulder as Mary and Mr. Jamali had done for him that morning.

“I understand. But you don’t have to feel guilty about missing them. Yes, we need to be sensitive around Toby, but it is natural to miss your friends. They’re missing you too. You can take as long as you need to do that before things begin to feel normal again.” He urged him.

Steve uncovered his face and looked sadly at Krel. “Is that even true though?” He whispered.

“What?”

“Eli definitely doesn’t miss me.” He turned to face forward again, staring hollowly at the red balls whizzing back and forth in the air. “I haven’t seen him since he left for Akiridion-5. He only texts me, like, once every other week. Maybe that’s my fault.”

“What?” Krel repeated, baffled.

“Come on, man. Everyone knows that I haven’t always been the nicest to him.” Steve winced at his own words. _Understatement of the year_. “Scratch that. I’ve been a real buttsnack to him in the past, and I never even properly apologized. I get why he would want to put some distance between us. I don’t blame him for it.”

He blew out a deep breath through his nose. “I bet he’s having the time of his life over there – why would he want to be reminded of me, and our history, and everything bad about Earth that probably kept him from staying?”

That was maybe the most idiotic thing Krel had ever heard, and he told Steve as much. “Eli does _not_ hate you, you soolian. You haven’t heard him gush about you like I have. It is very annoying.” He said truthfully. Steve’s jaw dropped slightly in response to this.

“While he would likely appreciate an apology, I don’t think it is necessary at this point in your friendship. He is simply busy being an Earth ambassador, and that’s why it may seem like he is ignoring you.” His throat felt dry. All of a sudden, his words felt a little less truthful. Why did it feel like he wasn’t just saying this for Steve’s benefit anymore?

“Of course he misses us.” Krel said with as much confidence as he could manage. _Right?_

The whistle blew again, and both boys looked up sharply. He raised himself off the bench and offered a hand to Steve, which the other begrudgingly took before they went to stand with the rest of their team.

Steve didn’t say anything else or acknowledge their conversation for the rest of the class. However, Krel allowed himself to take a few balls to the face in the next 2 games, and he saw the small smile playing on Steve’s lips, and that was good enough for him. He had done his job in cheering up his friend.

Now, he had the rest of the class to think about why Eli was sending Steve texts and not him.

\--

An hour and 15 minutes later, Krel was not feeling any better about his new discovery. To put it simply, he felt like garbage.

They reconvened with Mary and Darci after the last school bell in the school yard. He watched the girls eagerly start recounting how the new teacher, Mrs. Park, totally roasted Seamus to a crisp in class over his analysis of “Shooting an Elephant”. He watched Toby and Steve start losing it, even pulling in Shannon and her new girlfriend Becky to discuss what a stupid essay it was. He quickly realized that there was no way he could keep up his façade of happiness in front of them for much longer- not when they were genuinely having so much fun.

Krel cleared his throat. “Friends, I think I will have to skip out on the movie tonight.”

Steve’s laughter died in his throat and he spun to face the other boy, brown eyes wide. “Wh- what? Why?” He asked, obviously trying not to sound too concerned but failing miserably.

“It’s a fun movie! You’ll love it!” Toby added. Darci released his hand to give a supportive thumbs-up.

“You already said you would go.” Mary folded her arms.

Yeah, no way he was getting out of this without a fight.

He closed his eyes and tried again. “I know I agreed before. But, um,” Krel searched desperately for a valid excuse. _I’m feeling the worst I have ever felt since Aja left and I don’t think I can hold it together in public long enough for a movie?_

“I have been making progress with the range of programmable locations for the wormhole, and I think that I’m close to a breakthrough.” He finished, and immediately regretted it when he saw the way Toby’s face lit up.

“Really!?” Toby grabbed his arm, eyes shining.

“Yes, really.” Krel responded coolly and pretended that his insides weren’t turning.

“Uh, okay, _wow,_ okay, well – ” Toby paused for a second, put his hands over his face, took in a long, shaky breath. After a moment he dropped his hands and beamed at the others again. His eyes were a little wet, but the other teens didn’t comment on it.

“That’s really, _really,_ amazing, dude. We’ll miss you at the movie, obviously, but take all the time you need. Let us know if you need any help, like, getting materials or…. or… well, I don’t exactly know what you would need help with. You’re the genius here!” He laughed breathlessly. “Literally whatever you need, just text me and I’ll be there.”

Krel nodded wordlessly.

Without waiting to hear any other protests, he adjusted his backpack straps, turned on his heel, and exited the schoolyard. The rest of his friends’ conversation faded into the background and he allowed himself to exhale for just a moment once out of their sight.

He felt sick to his stomach. Was there anyone he could talk to about all these confusing feelings he was having? He didn’t want to bother Aja at this hour; he knew that she had important queenly duties to attend to for almost all hours of the day. For a brief moment, he considered going home and talking to Coach Lawrence before “date night” begun.

Reflecting on it further, he decided that was definitely a bad idea. The only person that the Coach was emotionally open to (or at least tried to be open to) was Steve. He did not want to encroach on their budding father-son relationship with his own irrelevant problems.

He could think of only one other option, and it had the potential to be infinitely more awkward than any conversation with Coach. It was further out of his way, and Krel could count the number of times he had talked to this person on one hand. Somehow, though, he thought she would be able to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun easter eggs:  
> \- "shooting an elephant" is the DUMBEST fucking essay i have ever read mr orwell really word vomited like 4000+ words about why reverse imperialism is a thing and we had to analyze that shit in class  
> \- yes i went back to s1 ep 14 of trollhunters to check what the name of jim's famous omelette was  
> \- yes i went back to s2 ep 8 bc i remembered toby singing the theme song for some kind of show. he was singing about team "astro four" so the movie they were planning to watch is the thrilling sequel, astro five lol


	4. Chapter 4

He arrived at Barbara Lake’s doorstep about half an hour later. Bracing himself, Krel knocked once on the wooden door. _If she doesn’t open the door in the next 30 seconds,_ he promised himself _, I’ll just go home_. This was a stupid idea, anyways, and every one of his inner thoughts were screaming at him to turn around and leave.

To Krel’s great displeasure, the door swung open not more than 5 seconds later. To his even greater displeasure, Dr. Lake was not standing in front of him.

“Oh. Mr. Tarron, is it? How can I help you?” Walter Stricker peered down at him, clearly confused. He was wearing a bright pink apron and carrying a large bowl of some type of batter in the crook of his arm. In one hand he held a wooden spoon covered in said batter, and in the other hand he held a baby bottle. Krel could hear the wailings of a small child in the background. He looked under Strickler’s arm to see a baby in the kitchen, sitting in a high chair.

“I wanted to talk to Dr. Lake about something, if that is okay.” He was really regretting every life choice that had led him to this point. “Toby, um, recommended her as someone to vent to.”

It was clear from Strickler’s expression that he thought this was a little weird, but he accepted Krel’s response anyways and stepped back to let him inside. “Barbara will be home shortly. She left the hospital a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you,” He replied, and hastily made his way inside before he could think better of it.

Strickler retreated to the kitchen and reappeared a moment later, cradling the baby in his arms, now satiated with the bottle in her mouth. He ascended the stairs to the nursery to put the baby down. Once he returned, they sat together on the living room couch in silence.

“So,” Krel tried to think of a way to make conversation until Barbara arrived. What did the two of them even have in common? “Um, I heard rumours that you were going to return to the school in September. But you decided to go on paternity leave, right?”

“Yes, I did. I plan on retaking my position once the second semester begins.”

The thought of Senor Uhl no longer being his principal made Krel sadder than it should have.

Noticing his crestfallen face, Strickler snorted. “Not to worry, I will not be returning as the principal. Uhl excels far more at that role than I ever could. I’ll just be taking back my history class.”

Krel nodded and turned his gaze down at his hands folded in his lap. _Brown skin, not blue,_ he noted. He asked suddenly, “Is it okay if I disable my transduction? I- I mean, my human disguise?”

Strickler looked caught-off guard by the sudden topic change.

“It’s just a lot, feeling… all kinds of emotions and trying to conceal them from my friends all day. It feels even worse knowing that I am wearing a literal mask over them, too.” Krel tried to explain.

“I understand. I’ll do the same.”

“Thank you.” He said gratefully. It was a relief to be able to shed his second skin and revert to normal. Afterwards, he reopened his eyes to focus on Strickler in his troll form, taking in the green-tinged stone for skin, the angular horns, and circlet of feathers around his neck. He still had the pink apron on.

Unbothered, Strickler picked up his bowl of batter from the table and began to stir it again.

Krel gave him a onceover. “So, what are you baking?”

“It’s something that Jim put in his recipe book. Carrot cake, a Lake family classic.” He chuckled, but it was in sort of a strained way. Like he was trying to hide all traces of his own emotions. “Barbara is a bit of a disaster in the kitchen, I’m afraid. She hasn’t had much luck in replicating any of his recipes.” He said carefully. “My own baking skills are only slightly better, but… well, today would have been when Jim started 11th grade. I know that Barbara is missing him terribly. We made plans in advance to call him and Claire today, after dinner, so I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

Krel felt unbelievably bitter for a second. What a kind gesture for Strickler to make for Dr. Lake and towards Jim, who wasn’t even his kid. Meanwhile, he had barely succeeded at cheering up Steve, he lied to Toby to come here and mope, and he couldn’t even get his best friend to call him back. Evidently, it was unfair for him to be sitting here, waiting for Dr. Lake to show up and miraculously solve all his problems, when his actions showed that he clearly didn’t deserve her help. He should just go home and stop intruding on this family.

The sound of a key turning alerted their attention to the front door. The lock clicked and turned as Barbara entered the house. “I’m sorry I’m late, Walt, I know we agreed on an early dinner. But there was a last-minute case with a man who accidentally sliced off the top of his thumb, and—" She shrugged off her lab coat and turned to face them.

“Krel?” She asked, mystified.

“Let me get your things for you, love.” Strickler rose to his feet, setting the carrot cake batter aside. He kissed her cheek and collected her bags and coat from her. His arms full, he gestured with his head to where Krel stiffly remained on the couch. “This young boy would like to have a word with you. I’ve got dinner ready once you’re done.”

To her credit, Barbara took this in stride and went to sit down with Krel right away. If he were to hazard a guess as to explain her blasé attitude about the situation, she was probably used to weirder things happening than a random blue teenager showing up in her living room.

“So, Krel,” She said pleasantly. “You’re friends with Toby, right?” As if she knew him from that and not from the giant clusterfuck of events that had happened at the end of July. Krel appreciated her trying to normalize their conversation anyways.

“Yes. Um, I’m not here for anything related to him, though.” And with that, he hesitantly began to explain his situation. Barbara listened attentively and nodded every now and then to show that she was paying attention. She mostly let him talk it out without offering any comments. Regardless, it made Krel feel better, and he silently thanked Toby for his recommendation. She was a comforting, motherly presence; one that he hadn’t been around in months.

“I felt weird when Steve was talking about how much he missed Aja and Eli.” Krel continued. “O-of course, I miss Aja, too.” He added quickly. “That goes without saying. But we talk so frequently, and we have the wormhole, and it’s not like I can fault her for the few times she has to skip out on our calls. Really, I’m just grateful that we’re still talking! I mean, I shirked my duties in the very way that I always gave her sh-” He remembered that he was speaking in the presence of an adult. It seemed as though Steve’s foul-mouthed tendencies had finally begun to rub off on him. “I always gave her a hard time for it.” He said simply.

“I miss her, but not as much as Steve does and… that makes me feel guilty. And I thought that was the only reason why I’m upset, but now I think it is something more than that, except I don’t know what and the fact that I don’t know is making me feel even worse.” He finished, the frustration ringing clear in his tone.

Barbara gave a slow nod, looking thoughtful. “Let me ask you this. Do you miss Akiridion-5?”

“To some extent, I suppose. I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.” He looked outside into the Lakes’ backyard. It was a lot darker out than he expected. Had so much time really passed? “The things that made Akiridion-5 my home aren’t all there anymore. My parents are gone, and I do not want to go back to a world built around worshiping them. It’s… too soon for that. I’m not strong like Aja is.”

“Knowing that my remaining family is together, and more importantly, _safe_ , means that I don’t have to worry as much about being there with them. I realized this summer that home is where your friends are.” He shrugged helplessly. “And soon after I made that realization, I realized that I never had any real friends on Akiridion-5. How could I? I was a royal.”

“I used to think Aja was strange for wanting to run away from being queen, but it makes sense to me now. I think I was just living in denial. I never made my mark or even wanted to since I already had all my duties laid out for me from birth. I was content to just do what my parents wanted, because that’s what a good son does, and that’s all I wanted to be. Here on Earth I have so much more freedom.”

“It makes sense that Aja wanted to go back, to right the Voltar situation and everything else that our parents mishandled.” Against his will, he began to smile. No matter the turmoil he was feeling inside, it seemed as though Aja could cheer him up in some way - even through his own memories of her. “She would never go back just because it was what our parents wanted. She needed to find her own reasons, while I am much more… uh, what is the Earth expression? Go with the Joe?”

“Go with the flow.” Barbara corrected him gently.

“Yes, that. This is my home. For now, I am happy with my current goal being to figure out who I am – outside of what my parents wanted for me. So, no, I do not miss Akiridion-5. What is there that I’m missing? I only wish that I had Aja, Varvatos, Luug, and Zadra with me here.”

She took a moment to digest this information. Krel had been quick to answer, and he seemed to believe in his response strongly. His words lacked the uncertainty and aggravation that had been rolling off of him in waves when he had first stepped into her house. So, the problem must lay elsewhere.

“Then if it’s not Aja or your home, what are you missing?” She urged him to consider.

For some reason, that was the tipping point for Krel. “I don’t know!” He exploded, all four arms lifting into the air in exasperation. If he knew, he wouldn't be here, venting all of his problems to a person he barely knew. Barbara’s presence was helpful, but he still didn’t have anything close to a grasp on the different emotions swirling around inside him. All he knew was what he physically felt.

“It’s like there’s a hole in my chest. Like I’m bleeding out. It’s been getting bigger all day, but I know that it is not because I’m thinking about Akiridion-5 or Aja.” He stopped, tried to think harder about what he was feeling. His description felt inaccurate somehow. “Actually,” He amended his words. “I don’t just feel like I am missing something. I’m not sad, I think… I think I may even be angry.”

“It hurts, and it’s frustrating, and I don’t know how to fix it or make these stupid feelings go away. It’s like I have all these things I want to say but I don’t know what they are.”

“Or,” Barbara began. She had started to put the pieces of the puzzle together as he talked. “Maybe you just don’t know who you want to say them to.” Her eyes were twinkling like she already knew the answer, which Krel found very annoying. If she knew, she should tell him immediately so that he could stop feeling like his insides were rotting.

“What do you mean?” He scoffed. “I am not mad at Aja, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just said that I understand why she had to go back. I left _her_ – of course I’m not mad!” He stood up off the couch to punctuate his point. He was getting more and more agitated by the minute.

“And I have been good about it, too! We text all the time, talk every night, and, and of course it’s not like that’s a burden or anything, I love her, and I’m doing everything to make sure that we stay a family, 10 000 light-keltons away! I just wish… I wish…”

Barbara raised her eyebrows.

“I wish other people would do the same.” He muttered.

Strickler poked his head out of the kitchen, no doubt alerted by the sound of Krel yelling. He wore a slightly troubled expression. “Everything ok?”

“We’re fine.” Barbara smiled at Strickler in that dopey, lovestruck way adults sometimes do, and something clicked for Krel.

He was already standing, so he excused himself quickly. “Dr. Lake, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. It helped me greatly, but I have to go now. I’m sorry for the intrusion, and for leaving so abruptly.” He turned to Strickler. “Good luck with the baking.” Barbara looked confused about that, but he had already left the house and closed the door behind him before she could ask any follow-up questions.

Krel made his way to the edge of the street and sat down on the curb. The street light flickered above him and turned on, casting a wide yellow glow to ward off the shadows that crept at his feet. He had stayed much longer at the Lakes’ residence than he had originally intended. Luckily for him, Steve would be out all night, so he needn’t worry about receiving any angry texts asking where he was. On the other hand, Coach Lawrence would come looking for him if Krel didn’t show up at the house before he and Mrs. Palchuk left for dinner. _Apologies._ Krel sent his thoughts their way. _But there is one last thing I have to do before coming home._

He took out his phone and pressed the first person on his speed dial. She picked up after 5 rings.

“Hi, Aja. Can you get Eli on the line for me?”

“Little brother!” Aja was obviously delighted to see him. “You picked a good time to call! I just finished making my schedule for tomorrow’s meetings, so I do not have any more work for the evening.”

“Eli.” He repeated. “I really need to talk to him.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Krel, but he is in another meeting right now. I believe it is supposed to go on for another 3 hours. Maybe you can talk in the morning?”

“Aja, _please_ , just interrupt the meeting and get him.”

“What? I cannot do that.”

“You’re the queen, you can do anything you like!” Frustration started to seep back into his voice before he could help it.

“Did you just snap at me?” Aja looked offended. “You are acting very strange about this. Are you on your period?”

“ _What?_ ”

“The boys in class always asked me that when I got upset. I think it is some sort of Earthling disease that everyone gets once a month.” She supplied helpfully. “You should eat some chocolate, it helps.”

Mary had been correct. High school boys were, in fact, the worse.

He shook his head violently, trying to stay focused. “Aja, I’m fine. I’m sorry, I just have to talk to Eli.” Since asking nicely didn’t seem to be yielding any results, he decided to spring for a different tactic. “Remember that time I broke into Steve’s locker in gym class so I could find out what type of deodorant he liked, and you could buy him the proper month-iversary gift?”

“Yes?”

“Well, now you owe me.”

Her face twisted, and it looked like she might push back one more time, but eventually the girl released a sigh and waved a hand dismissively. “Fine. Just know that interrupting her subjects in their very important, very _private_ meetings is not the kind of thing a queen should do.”

She disappeared from view. Krel heard some shuffling and irritated, muffled whispers, followed by a blur of motion as the phone was pushed into someone else’s hands. The background lightened, hands being lifted up from where they covered the screen, and suddenly it was Eli’s face gazing back at him.

Krel didn’t give him a chance to speak. His temper was already through the roof. 

“You’ve been a really shitty friend lately, do you know that?” Steve would be so proud of him for using his first Earthling expletive. “You never text or call first, and you don’t even answer when I do it.” He hissed, stabbing an angry finger at the phone screen. “How hard is it to send a “Hi, Krel, what’s up?” or a “Sorry I can’t talk right now, let’s do it in an hour”! But no! I always have to hear from Aja that you’re _busy_ ,” The word dripped with venom. “And that “he’ll call you when he can!””

“It’s bullshit!” Another point to Steve. “I know you’re busy, I know that you have meetings to go to and high-ranking Akiridions to talk to and all these important things to do, because guess what? A few months ago, I was still doing all of those things because I was the _prince_ of the planet that you’re on! And guess what else? When I was the prince, I still made time to hang out with Aja! Because friends matter more!”

He just kept talking, and eventually it spiraled into yelling. He yelled about how sad Eli had made Steve and Toby, and how hard it’s been for them. He pointed out that Toby already had to deal with losing his two best friends, and Eli wasn’t making it any easier by not staying in touch. He told him how Steve thought the whole situation was his fault, and that he had been beating himself up for Sekklos knows how long about Eli’s departure. He mentions biology class; how hard it’s been for him.

“Look, dude, I’m sorry!” Eli finally managed to get a word in edgewise. He gestured wildly with his hands. “I really have been busy, okay! For what it’s worth, I text Steve and Toby when I can, and—”

In the back of his mind, Krel had always suspected this. He’d gotten confirmation when talking to Steve today. Krel already _knew_ this, okay, he had seen how suddenly their eyes would light up during class and they would shoot a fleeting glance in his direction before quickly going to answer their phones. He had told himself that maybe it was someone different; maybe it was news about one of their silly sci-fi movies getting a sequel. Even though he was already aware of it all, hearing Eli’s admission out loud somehow hurt more.

“Yeah, but you never text me!” He interrupted. “And you never even asked me about going to Akiridion-5!” Now it was Eli’s turn to look mad, and Krel kicked himself mentally. That wasn’t what he had meant. Eli didn’t have to ask him for permission to do things on his own. He tried again. “I know that your whole world is about aliens and cryptids, and it’s probably your dream to go to another planet. I know that, like me, you’ve never made much of a mark anywhere and that you can finally accomplish that as an Earth ambassador. I _get it_ , okay, I really do. And I tried to be supportive, at first, for that reason.”

“But, Eli… I didn’t know that you leaving Earth would be the same as you walking out of my life forever.” His voice cracked. “I thought we were best friends.” _You’re still not being honest,_ a voice in the back of his mind said. He ignored it.

“How could you do that to me?”

Eli was silent for a good few minutes. Krel actually thought the video call might have frozen.

When he went to defend himself again, his voice was soft.

“I missed Earth too much.” He confessed. “I miss Steve and Toby and my moms, the awful food they serve in the caf, Miss Janeth, and I really, really wish I was around for bio because I was _so_ looking forward to learning about Krebs cycle.” He cracked a smile. “See, it kinda sounds like a cross between your name and _kleb_. I-I wanted to see your reaction when we started that unit.”

“I never go to the wormhole reunions because I’m worried if I go back to Earth, even for just a few hours, I won’t want to come back to Akiridion-5. And I can’t self-sabotage my own dream like that.” Eli got even quieter. He seemed to debate with himself about whether to keep speaking, but then pressed his lips together and gave a determined shake of his head. “I’m so sorry, Krel. It’s just that…” Another few seconds of hesitation. Eli swallowed and sucked in a deep breath.

“I missed you way, way more than everyone else. It hurt too much to call or text or see you in person, and I know that’s a cowardly thing to say, but-” He shrugged helplessly. ”-I was hurting, and I did an awful, mean thing. I don’t want to keep making excuses. It was wrong of me and I really am sorry.” He said sincerely, looking deep into the other’s eyes. “I remember being so happy to find out from Kubritz that you called me your best friend, and well, maybe I missed you more than a normal best friend would…”

Alright, it was now or never. The perfect chance for Krel to finally be honest with the both of them about what he was feeling.

“You stupid idiot, I _like_ you.” Krel told him, once he noticed that Eli’s eyes had begun to glisten.

“You WHAT?”

Krel tried not to be embarrassed. He had never been interested in girls, or dating, or anything like that… but clearly, Earth had shown that it could bring out anything him.

Or maybe one Earthling in particular could.

“Yes, I like you.” He confirmed. “Like _like_ you, I believe is the human expression. I forgive you, too.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Eli breathed, and his eyes were only getting wetter.

“Please, don’t cry.” Krel said quickly. “I have had my fill of trying to console others today. I’ve concluded that I am not very good at it.”

Eli choked out a laugh at that. “No, don’t say that. You’re good at anything you put your mind to. It’s, um, one of the things that I like about you.” He said shyly. “Your determination, I mean.”

“Yeah? Well, I like how intrepid you are. I have never seen you shy away from investigating something, no matter how dangerous the odds.” Krel replied, assuming that this was some sort of human game. A courting ritual.

Eli opened his mouth to respond, but he barged on. “And I like that you have a natural curiosity for almost everything. You are more intelligent than you give yourself credit for.”

“I like that you always opt for the compassionate, thoughtful route rather than one of aggression.”

“You are the first to offer someone help, before they can even think of asking for it. I wish I had your ability to empathize with people.”

“I admire how you put in twice as much training as Steve and Toby to keep up at their pace.”

“And I think the way that you adjust your glasses when you’ve just figured something out is cute.”

“Can I kiss you?” Eli interrupted. He had stopped tearing up, but now his face was turning an interesting shade of pink. Krel touched his own cheeks, feeling that they were beginning to heat up. That was new. His chest was also starting to feel as though it was aflame.

He pretended to think about it. “Eli, this is just a video call. Maybe at the next wormhole reunion.” He arched an eyebrow. “Assuming that you will be attending this time?”

“Krel!” Eli laughed. “Yeah, okay.” He sobered up a bit, dragging the heel of his hand across his face to wipe away any tears that had escaped. “I do have to apologize to Steve and Toby for being a bad friend. I’ll text them tonight, I promise.”

“I’m glad.”

“That can wait, though. Let’s just… talk. I want to make up for lost time.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope u enjoyed this fic!! if it seemed rushed it's bc im really not used to creative writing and i knew that i would lose the motivation to write soon enough so i wanted to finish it within a week. anyways if you want the bonus scenes of eli + krel's first kiss, or of krel telling toby he was lying about the wormhole project... go ask someone else i'm not talented enough LMAO
> 
> come talk to me on tumblr @starfiyah!!!

**Author's Note:**

> if you got the dan and phil reference in here you are eligible to receive a veteran's discount


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